But if the storyboard is sad, its dispirit is played out in a redacted colour palette on a scale enhancing the poetry of dreams. The artist, Michael Cook, understands his ethereal subject: an Indigenous native of Queensland, his debut solo exhibition domestically is a collaboration between the October Gallery and a Brisbane art dealer, accompanied by a photographic series, Australian Landscapes, Stickman, The Mission and Undiscovered, imagining a colonial past where Aborigines claim Australia.

Cook spent 25 years as a fashion photographer, has had his work collected by the National Gallery of Australia and has won numerous accolades, as well as selection for the 7th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art in Oz next month.